


Never, Always

by Chisotahn



Category: Persona 4
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-11
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-16 22:50:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2287379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chisotahn/pseuds/Chisotahn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They tried their best, but it wasn't enough.</p><p>Spoilers for December and the true ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never, Always

Too late. Just a little too late.

The thought flickered through Yosuke's aching head as he awoke; his eyelids resisted opening until he wiped at his face, his hand coming away sticky with half-dried blood. As soon as he opened his eyes, he wished he hadn't.

He'd woken up sprawled over cracked asphalt, lying on his side, but he could still see the swirling red-and-black of the sky. The horizon had become far more distant as the TV world pushed at its boundaries and tore through; the far away 'buildings' had been replaced by much more detailed silhouettes, ones he recognized.

This wasn't Magatsu Inaba anymore. It was just... Inaba.

He wasn't entirely sure how he was alive, but he was, every shaking breath filled with pain. His thoughts felt slow, numb. He remembered them all going in; remembered Souji pushing them far past the time they would have usually left. He remembered midnight getting closer and closer, remembered racing the clock.

Remembered losing.

Remembered the wind kicking up around them, clearing the fog in an instant and pushing spirals of red and black out further and further; remembered feeling the edges cave in, the moment the boundary was lost. Remembered Adachi's manic laughter, how obvious it was that something in _him_ had caved in too.

And Souji had taken the opportunity, lunged, swung his blade in a wild arc and... 

"We got him," Yosuke rasped, though he could barely hear his own voice. "Why...?" Was he the only one left? His vision was hazy, and he couldn't tell if the blots of darkness on the ground around him were Shadows, rubble, or bodies. He took as deep a breath as he could manage; the effort involved in shouting made his throat burn. "Souji? Rise? Ted?" Another breath. "Anyone?"

"Poor little thing."

The voice was low, sweet, and redolent with a sense of satisfaction and _power_ that set Yosuke to trembling in an instant. He wrapped his arms around himself instinctively, though the movement sent a stabbing pain through his left shoulder. The words had come from somewhere behind him.

Slowly, teeth set against the pain, he shifted and rolled onto his right side.

_Oh._

She was bright, shining, the center of the world, the center of _everything_. Her white robes were the purest thing he'd ever seen, though as the wind ruffled them he caught faint traces of something foul in the air, like the stench of rotting meat. Yosuke stared at her, transfixed. She sat atop a pile of shattered asphalt, her very presence making it a throne, Adachi's body sprawled at her feet...

... and her right hand resting on Souji's head.

" _Souji!_ "

Yosuke heaved himself upright, though a wave of dizziness and pain nearly flattened him again; he tasted bile but forced himself to at least get to his knees. His partner was pale, the trembling in his limbs visible even at this distance. He was still holding his sword, but barely, the hilt clasped in one shaking hand.

The goddess - she could be nothing else - looked down at Yosuke and smiled, her expression oddly soft compared to all the destruction around her. "Such effort," she murmured, "for so little gain. I will miss humans, I think. You were always so entertaining."

Yosuke's skin crawled. "We're not... going anywhere," he managed, keeping his eyes trained on Souji. "Partner..."

The goddess looked down at Souji then, gently tipping the other boy's head back and running one white finger down his neck; Souji let her do it, not even flinching away, though his shaking intensified. "Izanagi descended unto Yomi, but fled at the sight of his 'beloved'," she said, as if Yosuke hadn't said a word. "He never realized his beautiful world was rotten at the core too... but I knew. I always knew. _He_ knew, too," and her scarlet gaze flicked to Adachi's body. "I was so sure he would be the vessel. Amusing to the end, humans."

The sword finally shook free of Souji's grip and clattered to the ground, making Yosuke recoil. "Let him go," Yosuke whispered. "Give him back. He's... he's _mine_."

The goddess folded her arms around Souji, her movements fluid and strangely tender. "He was never yours," she said, without malice, as if gently explaining a concept to a particularly dense child. "Ever since I touched him, ever since Izanagi awoke in him, he has been mine and mine alone." Souji made a faint sound, something caught between need and abject terror.

Yosuke swallowed, hard. "You're... you're wrong." He lifted one hand, fingers outstretched. " _Persona._ "

For a moment, it seemed like it would work - but the singing chime in his mind went dissonant, cracked and crazed. The bond between him and Susano-o shook itself to pieces, and he only just kept himself from collapsing to the ground again.

"A futile effort," she said, sympathetically. The asphalt beneath him softened abruptly, and Yosuke finally lost his balance and fell heavily on his side, sending a new surge of agony through him. He curled into a fetal position, vaguely aware that the high-pitched keen of pain he was hearing was coming out of his own throat.

The goddess shook her head sadly and picked Souji up; she suddenly seemed to have far too many limbs, and the reek of dying things intensified. "I am not without mercy," she said, cradling Souji's limp and shaking form against her. "For your 'courage', then... a gift. You may have what I do not require." Her lips curved in a smile, and Yosuke's stomach roiled. "What you claim is _yours_."

And Souji screamed.

Sheer adrenaline got Yosuke up onto his hands and knees, but no further - the goddess' many hands were cupped around a maelstrom of flickering light, of familiar shapes effervescing out of Souji's skin, dragons and demons and dozens more, all thinning and vanishing within seconds. _Stop it_ , Yosuke tried to shout, but fear killed the words before they reached his throat.

Then the goddess lashed out, snatching at something that became solid as soon as her skeletal fingers touched it. A dark figure, the most familiar one of all. The one that had stood between Yosuke and his Shadow, so many months ago.

"There you are," she breathed, and Souji tumbled from her arms, discarded, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. "There you are, my dear, _dear_ husband." Yosuke swallowed bile as he realized who the goddess had to be. Izanagi struggled in her grip, thrashing as if her mere touch burned, and Izanami's voice rose triumphant, exultant. "Shall we see what has become of your beautiful world?"

If the Persona - no, the god - answered, Yosuke didn't hear it through the roaring in his ears.

Izanami turned her gaze on him one last time. "There," she said, making a sweeping gesture towards Souji's crumpled body with at least four hands. "What is yours. May it give you comfort in your final moments."

And then she was gone, the glory of a rising star against the red-and-black sky, leaving the redolence of Yomi in her wake.

"Souji," Yosuke whispered, shaking so hard he could barely move, but he forced himself to move forward, crawling on his hands and knees inch by inch until he reached Souji's side. "Souji, partner-"

He'd fully expected to find a corpse, but Souji was breathing, if shallowly and far too quickly; his eyes were open, though they were glazed and distant. Yosuke hissed in pain as injury surmounted adrenaline once again. Something warm and wet was running down his torso, and his whole body seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat. Losing blood, probably too much-

"... Yosuke..."

The word was barely audible, but it was accompanied by the faintest twitching of Souji's fingers, and Yosuke collapsed at his partner's side. "I'm here," he said dizzily, using the last of his strength to pull himself against Souji, draping one arm limply over his shoulders. "I'm here, partner..."

Souji swallowed thickly, his eyes unfocused. "... the others?"

"I don't know, I..." Yosuke let out a shaking breath as a wave of disorientation washed over him. "Didn't... didn't see them. Maybe they... made it out." He wasn't at all sure that _out_ was a thing that existed any more, but what did it matter now? He had nothing left, and Souji had been emptied and cast away. This wasn't something they could recover from.

The thought was strangely comforting.

"... didn't mean... to turn out like this," Souji mumbled, his head listing towards Yosuke. "Didn't..."

"Shhh," Yosuke said, closing his eyes and pressing his forehead against Souji's. "It's okay. We can... we can stop now. We... we did our best." And it hadn't been enough, but he didn't have any space left for regret.

He felt the erratic flutter of Souji's breath against his skin. "...Yosuke," Souji said, faintly.

"Y-yeah?" The world had narrowed to the space between their breaths. In, out. In, out. In, out. In-

"... Always yours."

Out. Yosuke thought he'd managed to smile in response, maybe. In. "Always," on the exhale, just barely. He was so tired.

In, out.

In, out.

In.

.  
.  
.  
Out.


End file.
